Florida 2004: Could It Happen in Texas?

Four hurricanes pounded the state of Florida last year causing billions of dollars in damage. Historical weather records do show that florida has been struck by more hurricanes than any other state, but Texas is second on that list.

That brings up the question -- could something like what happened in Florida happen in Texas? We asked that question to Meteorologist Bill Read with the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston. Read said, "It actually happened in 1886. There were 4 hurricanes to strike the Texas coast.. Two of them were devastating."

One of the storms of 1886 almost wiped Indianola, Texas off the map. Indianola which was located near Matgorda Bay was a primary immigration entry point for Texas. Another major hurricane made landfall near Sabine Pass killing many people who lived near sea level.

While there are certainly more advanced warnings for hurricanes today than there were in 1886, forecasters are concerned that with more and more people living on the coast, t he cost of hurricane damage and the number of hurricane deaths may rise over the next several years.

It is possible that could happen this year. One of the nation's leading hurricane forecasters, Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University, says 2005 will be an active year. Gray says, "We think we're back in the type of environment that we were in back in the 40s and 50s where we had a lot of landfalling storms."